Did you receive a reply from your MP or local councillor?
The UK government’s deregulation agenda and lack of detail is worrying to say the least. Nature is being attacked in the most unprecedented way. The UK government has announced that they will be:
- Lifting the ban on fracking in England
- Removing several important laws that protect nature
- Considering scrapping plans to reward farmers for managing land in a nature-friendly way.
These go against the explicit promises the Conservative Party made in their 2019 manifesto and the mandate they were elected to govern on.
What you can do next
We can’t thankyou enough for helping us to #DefendNature and for contacting your local MP or local councillor. Your actions will make a difference and your one voice, joining thousands of others can’t fail to be heard. If you haven’t contacted your MP or local councillor yet, there’s still time. Check out our guidance on how to write a letter to your MP.
We’re pleased to hear that many of you have received responses. But we can’t stop now. There are many questions that have been left unanswered and some MP’s responses have even questioned the validity of what we have said. We’re not going to accept stock answers, answers that lack detail, or answers that simply dismiss our concerns. Nature deserves more than that.
We have created some guidance to help you reply, so we can make sure our MP’s understand the severity of this attack on nature.
Credit Donald Sutherland
Questions that need to be answered
We need to be reassured by MPs and councillors that they will defend nature. Can you help us push local and national leaders for answers? Click the text below to find out more about each counterpoint.
We need more detail
It’s great that some MP’s have replied and also share our concerns for nature, however, a lack of clarity in MP’s responses means more questions have been raised than answered. We need the detail to reassure us now and not just brief answers with no substance. So go back and question your MP, ask them for the detail to their previous reply and use the below examples of some replies we’ve received.
“We will not be scrapping ELMS”
This is good to know, but for farmers, land managers and members of the public to feel reassured, we need to urgently hear from the Government that area-based payments are not back on the table, and that they will not reduce the scope or ambition of ELMS.
“We will not be weakening environmental protections”
It is hard to see how this will be the case. The Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill only gives until December 2023 for all EU-retained laws to be rewritten or bought into UK law before they are scrapped. Defra has over 570 retained laws on environmental issues, will these laws be kept? Given the current nature crises we are facing, ideally these laws need to be strengthened, not just retained. We need guarantees that habitats and species protections will be retained and strengthened.
“The Government’s intention is to remove EU rules which create paperwork and stall development, but which do not necessarily protect the environment”
Labelling EU rules as ‘unnecessary’ and ‘bureaucratic’ undermines the role they play in creating the kind of country people enjoy living in – one with thriving wildlife, plentiful green spaces, and sustainable communities. In fact, many environmental regulations, like the Habitat Regulations, are essential if the Government has any chance of meeting the legally binding targets set out in the Environment Act.
Follow up
If you have received a response from your MP, are not happy with the answer, if they’ve questioned what we’ve said or you’d like more detail, then please look at the letter and guidance we have put together to help you respond. And of course, keep us updated with their responses. Together, we can all #DefendNature.